Run Run Run

Good run today. Ran with son up Little Cottonwood Trail from mouth of canyon to end of trail. Saw some mountain goat, son saw deer, butterflies coming out, alot of birds singing and the sounds of water. Route has a couple of steep rocky sections and there were still quite a few snowbanks to run over, luckily they were still frozen and you could run their ridgeline. You cross 2 bridges over Little Cottonwood Creek. Good temps for running, on way back we felt good and ran shirtless and had a few father-son snowball battles - kind of a run and throw battle. Son didnt have alot of energy so surprizingly I outran him today.

Nothing special - just short jog around Buttercup Park

Wow. Probably shouldnt have done it, although I seem OK more or less today. Ran a long run for me. Maybe the longest Ive run. 16 miles. Ran my typical speed - slow. I seem to be able to run long distances OK, have good endurance, just dont have speed.

Anyway I ran from work to the end of City Creek road and even up the trail at end of road. My boss was gone so it was time to take a longer "lunch time". The weather for running was great - nice temperature and overcast - I do much better when good temps and not direct sun. I was determined to make it to the end of the road, as I had never made it that far on a run.

The leaves on most the trees were out and spring flowers coming out, birds singing in places and always the nice sound of the water. The last part at the end parking lot had snow. An interesting thing happened - I saw a raccoon. I slowed my running down and was right next to him. He looked at me in surprize, I said "its OK, how ya doing", he then seemed to accept me and continued looking under piles of leaves for some kind of food. I started running again and he picked up his pace scampering alongside me - weird. I asked him if he wanted to be my running partner, he then stood up on his hind legs and made that raccoon chattering noise - I guess my running speed didnt impress him much. At first I thought I better be careful as maybe he was rabid, but I think it was just a case of a critter in nature accepting me. Not sure what his name was - maybe Ricky or Rocky. Anyway that was cool.

At another location on the road, it was strange, there were dozens and dozens of sowbugs (pill bugs) crossing the road. Not sure why - maybe its their annual historic migration to the north side of the road. Hey - why does the sowbug cross the road? (like the chicken question). I definately outpaced those little bugs with my amazing speed.

I ran almost the entire way except for the raccoon, getting some sips of water, a minute at the end of the road and some stoplights near work. Faster downhill but my legs and knees were heavier so not that fast. Some of City Creek has a nice grade so I think a mile there is equivalent to a longer distance. Anyway a good accomplishment for me, felt good and had runners high for at least doing it.

5K at Thanksgiving Point. Starts out on roads and then runs through paths in the garden. It is scenic with flowers and water, but you dont have time to look. The path is often narrow and curvy, so it probably slows you down and is challenging to pass someone (not that I get to pass many). My foot got caught and I almost tripped where there were animal footprint casts made in the sidewalk.

Did OK, not as good as last year as Im still behind in getting in shape, but I improved 2 minutes from my earlier 5K this year. Got 2nd in my age group and 98th in race of 754. My GPS had it as 3.13 or 3.14 and my time as 20 seconds faster than the clock. I would say there were around 500 but dont know for sure and several of course were walkers. First mile was fastest and last mile slowest. Still bothered by hip pain although tolerable. Right plantar was OK. Had a little trouble breathing from allergies

They only gave medals to top 3 men and top 3 women. Age groups didnt get anything this year which was a little disappointing. They said they wanted to make race less competitive which sounds like a oxymoron to me. Arent races supposed to be competitive? They had oranges, rhoades rolls, ice cream and vitamin water for refreshments after the race. The race is not an expensive one to run.

Son finished 11th overall in around 21:30. When I asked, doesnt the fastest kid get something, they gave him a giant bag of gummy bears which he loves. I think the winner was a BYU track woman in a little less than 19 minutes.